The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has ratified the sentence that acquitted three National Police officers tried for shooting dead a 21-year-old young man on November 26, 2021 on the landing of his house in Vallecas. This is stated in a ruling, to which Europa Press had access, in which the magistrates dismissed the appeal filed against the April 2024 resolution that exonerated the agents.
The acquittal occurred after the popular jury that tried the facts appreciated that there was a complete defense of self-defense that freed them from criminal responsibility. In the legal argument, the Chamber states that “it cannot, within its scope of prosecution, but conclude that the motivation of the appealed sentence excludes from the root any shadow of arbitrariness or unreason that could undermine the right to effective judicial protection of the appellants’ accusations.
The judged events occurred on the afternoon of November 26, 2021 in less than a minute when the agents took the elevator to the ninth floor of the building. Within a space of one meter, they were surprised by the violent attack of the victim, who attacked them without saying a word with a knife.
The accused detonated about 19 shots during the police intervention. The young man died from hypovolemic shock as a result of the four impacts received in the abdomen.
Only one of the agents used his right to the last word, reiterating that he and his companions acted to defend their lives and those of their companions. “Kevyn left us no options,” he stressed in court. The family requested a sentence of five years in prison for an incomplete defense considering that they must have some type of responsibility for what happened.
In their statement, the defendants defended that they acted to defend themselves from a fatal attack, which would exempt them from criminal responsibility in the event that the jury court appreciates this defense in its full form.
The events occurred around nine at night when the agents showed up at the victim’s home, located in Puente de Vallecas, when they were required following a call from the mother. Upon entering the house, the young man lunged at them, according to the police report. There were no more witnesses. Between the three police officers they shot the young man 19 times, hitting his body six times. A forensic report included in the case establishes that the young man died due to the accumulation of shots that hit him and caused hypovolemic shock.
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